Fresh water dipping???? Any success????

[two11devan]

As i posted earlier, my yellow tang has some sort of infection.... one of its eyes is cloudy and his "skin" is discolored....there are no white spots, so im not sure if it is ich or not. I went to the aquarium and a guy that worked there said he had similar problems and dipped his fish in fresh water for a few min. He said the fish could tollerate the freshwater for short periods of time, but the bacteria can't. I was also told that doing a half fresh and half tank water dip with "formalin-3" for about 30min could also help the fish. Any one have any oppinions or success stories using either of the 2 methods???? I currently am dipping him in the half and half. They said to do this every day untill it clears up... Any help is appreciated!

 

[fishfreek]

I would say first that doing a freshwater dip is not a cureall type of answer for an unhealthy fish. Some fish problems are caused by parasites and a feshwater dip will remove the parasites from the fish but it wont remove the parasite from the main tank so for maximum effectivness you need to figure out what the cause is and correct that vs correcting the fish only.

There are many fish health issues that a simple dip can not correct so i would say the first step is to properly identify what the fish's problem is.

Can you describe the fish in more detail.

We know its a yellow tang with cloudy eyes and discolored skin. What color is the skin. Are there any red spots?

 

[reefrunner69]

He said the fish could tollerate the freshwater for short periods of time, but the bacteria can't.

This is false, the fish can tolerate it (although it is very stressful), but so can bacteria. If it is bacterial in nature the fish should be removed to a hospital tank and treated with antibiotics.

 

[two11devan]

He said the fish could tollerate the freshwater for short periods of time, but the bacteria can't.

This is false, the fish can tolerate it (although it is very stressful), but so can bacteria. If it is bacterial in nature the fish should be removed to a hospital tank and treated with antibiotics.

We know its a yellow tang with cloudy eyes and discolored skin. What color is the skin. Are there any red spots?

There are no white or red spots anywhere on the fish. Im not sure how to describe it, there are "dark" spots on him. I saw one or two Tangs at the aquarium i got him from with the same problem (not from the same tank i got mine from). They said that it is pretty common for the tangs and they use the salt/fresh water dip with formalin 3...

 

[steve-s]

The cloudy eye could simply be a result of netting the fish and may go away by itself. Keep tabs on it to make sure it does not progress or the eye itself appears to "bulge" out. You may need to QT and treat with a gram negative anti-biotic as mentioned previously. Sometimes a series of simple water changes (10%) over the next few weeks can clear up these things.

The "brown" spots sound like they may be lymphocystis which is most commonly brought on by poor living conditions and diet. Could also be a form of fungal infection.

Does it seem to be 'fluffy in texture or smooth and bumpy like a "wart"?

Cheers
Steve

 

[two11devan]

The "brown" spots sound like they may be lymphocystis which is most commonly brought on by poor living conditions and diet. Could also be a form of fungal infection.

Does it seem to be 'fluffy in texture or smooth and bumpy like a "wart"?

The spots aren't really brown, its almost as if it has lost the yellow coloring...it doesn't look like it is any sort of scab or wart, just looks like the skin lost its color in a few spots. I have dipped him in the half fresh and half salt with formalin 3 two times......i worry that moving him in and out will stress him out alot, but my LFS said they do this to theirs once a day untill the symptoms clear up and I guess it works for them!

 

[two11devan]

The "brown" spots sound like they may be lymphocystis which is most commonly brought on by poor living conditions and diet

Oh yea...I forgot. My water test all came back normal, I only had the fish a day before I noticed this problem. I will do a 10percent water change in tommorrow or the next day.

 

[steve-s]

The spots aren't really brown, its almost as if it has lost the yellow coloring...it doesn't look like it is any sort of scab or wart, just looks like the skin lost its color in a few spots.

Are these "spots" near the frontal (face) area or running down the midsection front to back? Are they raised up or completely flat?

I have dipped him in the half fresh and half salt with formalin 3 two times......i worry that moving him in and out will stress him out alot, but my LFS said they do this to theirs once a day untill the symptoms clear up and I guess it works for them!

I really do not recommend this kind of treatment. In most cases except flukes are formalin dip ever necessary. A proper QT tank would have provided a relatively stressed reduced environment where the tang could be observed and treated if necessary. I would suggest reading about the QT in the article section.

Cheers
Steve

 

[two11devan]

The spots are near the face area....have you seen this, and is it pretty common with tangs?

 

[steve-s]

This would be so much easier with a picture of the tang and the affected area.

Could still be a few things. The reason I asked the above was I was thinking HLLE which would look similar to this:

Considering the other fish at the LFS had this and the store instructed you in the use of formalin the one thing I am leaning toward at this point is turbellarians (aka black ich), which if that's the case I would never shop there again.

The other possibility would be flukes. But you should see some sort of texture or "raised" area in either case.

I would definately call the LFS using your "friendly" voice and find out for sure. Don't get upset until you get an answer or they'll probably just hang up.

I hope the tang is in a QT, if not you may need to QT all the fish in the main display. Please let us know if anything here rings true or an honest answer is forthcoming from the LFS.

Cheers
Steve

 

[two11devan]

This would be so much easier with a picture of the tang and the affected area.

I know.....I wish I had a digital camera. Ill see if i can get my hands on one! It doesn't look like the picture you have posted. In that picture, the infected areas look "indented". The marks on my fish do not look raised or indented...its as if the yellow color is mising....its hard to explain. I spoke with someone at the LFS and he said it was common with the tangs and he has had the same problem with his before and he did the fresh water dip.
I have done the half and half dip with the formalin twice now.....he is much more active today and I think his eye is clearing up a little bit! The discoloration is still present though. Oh yea...he seems very shy, anytime someone walks by the tank, he hides in his cove...is this normal or does he just not like me?! haha

 

[steve-s]

Until you can get some difinitive info or a pic, I would say since the tang is showing improvement keep doing what you have been. I would also suggest soaking the foods in Selcon. It's a great vitamin additive that will improve the health while strengthening the immune system.

Oh yea...he seems very shy, anytime someone walks by the tank, he hides in his cove...is this normal or does he just not like me?! haha

Very common in all new fish, especially one that has been through what your's has. Once the turmoil comes to an end and it settles in, you will notice a change in the tangs behavior.

Cheers
Steve

 

[two11devan]

Thanks for the info! I have just started adding garlic to the water when i feed them. I soaked the food in it as well, i am trying to see what works best....but I will look into the SELCON